Music and movement play a huge role in child development! Just as important as math, science, reading, or writing, music and movement are great ways to learn about yourself and the world around you.
Children enjoy music and will begin reacting to music at an early age! As they grow older, a child’s love of music can evolve into a personal hobby, a way to release energy or stress, or even a way to be social with others. When a child participates in music and movement activities, they can have fun while being as creative as they would like, either with dance or storytelling. Through participating in group music and movement activities, children can develop and refine their social skills, learn to work as a team, remember to share, and know how to be creative in a group environment!
How do activities relating to music and movement specifically help build skills?
Gross and fine motor skill development:
- The gross motor skills involve large muscle groups, including bending, stretching, catching, lifting, jumping, and reaching.
- Fine motor skills involve small muscle groups like pinching and grasping. This includes any activities that use small hand and fingers movements, which makes this skill essential for many other necessary life skills, such as writing.
- Kids with developmental delays need lots of practice to develop these skills fully.
Improve Coordination and Imagination:
- Movement and music activities involve coordinating hands and/or feet in ways that a child might not be familiar with in everyday activities, which helps to build extensive connections across the brain through daily practice!
- Listening to songs that encourage kids to hop, jump, skip, creep/crawl, and more can help develop balance and coordination. Additionally, activities requiring these types of movements help develop a child’s spacial awareness.
- Imagination is super vital to early cognitive development and healthy interactions as an adult! When children participate in actions such as pretending to perform on stage, fly through the sky, or become ferocious animals pouncing along with the music, it strengthens their imagination! We need it for so much.
Strengthens language skills:
- Music-related activities can help improve/create the ability to detect subtle differences between sounds. This ability can also be used when learning to sound out words!
- Hearing rhyming words helps children understand language gradually, especially if it repeats.
- Movement activities involving a group engage children to cooperate and collaborate with others! Playing and collaborating with others in an activity or game also helps children learn teamwork, trust, and respect for others. Super essential lessons to learn early on!
Maintains a healthy mind:
- Nothing is better than listening and dancing to your favorite song! The science behind it: physical movement oxygenates the blood, which then travels to the brain. Throughout time, moving to music has uplifted listeners’ moods.
- Music and movement activities can impact children very early, even in the womb! Studies have also shown that particular types of music can soothe infants while other genres of music can promote alertness and attention while studying/learning.
- A child’s memory can be impacted by the rhythm and sequences found in music. Think about how many songs have been created to help memorize information, such as the ABC song!
At the Nest Schools, we incorporate both music and movement in multiple aspects of our enrichment programs.
In our Paints & Pianos Program, children sing, dance, play and travel through time using diverse types of music and works of art. Children experience the beauty of various types of music, instruments, and art experiences that teach them how to observe and translate their thoughts into language, take multiple perspectives on the world, and experience the true joy that comes from experiencing the visual arts. Examples of this include studying classical music or learning how to hold a violin correctly! Paints & Pianos is taught by an in-house dedicated Enrichment Coordinator. Families can expect to see these classes taking place once a week per age group and classroom as part of their enrollment at The Nest!
In our Fit Buddies program, children move, dance, and exercise in groups! This program was designed to provide children with early insights into healthy activities such as yoga, deep breathing, stretching, meditation, sports, and exercises designed to keep them active, engaged, and happy!
This program incorporates many unique and hands-on learning experiences for young children, incorporating movement activities that specifically aid in developing language skills, problem-solving, and self-regulation skills necessary for later success in academics and life.
Just like our Paints & Pianos program, Fit Buddies is taught by an in-house dedicated Enrichment Coordinator!
No matter what kind of music you prefer to jam out to, it is beneficial to health and development in many ways. So, turn up the volume today and get to dancing!